eredith's characters were, they were all
the children of old-fashioned people; within them all was the pride of
the family tree, and, in the scenes in which they move, the memory of an
older world. Du Maurier, too, in his art was a patrician, and when he
gave up romance and took to satire pure and simple he put both beauty
and dignity into the world that he described. All the time he was
drawing his Society world others were working the same vein. But to him
alone it seemed to be given to glimpse the splendour of it, and to
suggest the link of romance that holds the present and the past
together.

Let us praise that very wise Editor who, appreciating the artist's
character, confined him to the art most natural to him. What has become
of Editors of this kind to-day? Is not this the very genius of the art
of editing--this and not the wholly fictitious "what the public wants?"
Who knows what the public want but the public themselves? It is the
artist who is allowed by his Editor to go his own way, who takes the
public with him. If he has not the same sympathies as the public no
Editorial direction will save the situation, while it will drive perhaps
a fine artist away to another trade.

Section 5

After the appearance of his first drawing in _Punch_, for more than a
year du Maurier's connection with the paper seems to have been
maintained by the execution of initial letters for it. Mr. W.L.
Bradbury, zealous in the preservation of all records that redound to the
glory of _Punch_, has in one or two instances had pulls taken from the
wood blocks upon special paper. These special proofs show all the charm
of wood engraving. In the case of the initial large C, reproduced on
page 91, Mr. Bradbury's specimen shows the beautiful quality which in
our own time Mr. Sturge Moore and Mr. Pissarro are at such pains to
secure in engravings made for love of the art. One only wishes that the
exigencies of book-production would allow us to attempt rivalry with Mr.
Bradbury's specimen in our reproduction. But we see no reason why
specimens of the wood-printing of du Maurier's work should not be on
view in the British Museum. The "impressions" in old volumes of _Punch_,
after the wear and tear, the opening and the shutting, and the effect of
time are not an adequate record of du Maurier's skill in accommodating
his art to the methods of reproduction of the period.

Moreover, du Maurier was better in securing an effect of painting than